DBeautyShop GEO Magic Black review

Today, I'll be reviewing the GEO Magic Black circle lenses.
Disclosure: These lenses were sponsored by DBeautyShop, a Malaysian-based online store that sells circle lenses. DBeautyShop did not dictate what should or should not be in this review and thus this review is written based on my honest opinions.

Item details
Origin: Korea
Diameter : 14.0mm
Water Content : 38 - 42%
Base Curve : N/A
Life Span : 1 year disposal

Under very dim lighting

With bright sunlight streaming in through the window

Directly facing the window

Comfort: 4/5
These lenses are pretty comfortable and I forget that they are there after a couple of minutes. I attribute this to its 14.00mm diameter which makes it very breathable and so, very comfortable to wear.

Enlargement: 3/5
Even though these are only 14.0mm in diameter, the thick, dark ring around the lenses provides an obvious enlarging effect. I think it looks good in photos, but in person, it may look a little unnatural especially if I don't wear any eye make up. However, I guess it would be perfect if you want to go for the dolly-eye effect.

Colour: 1/5
*note that a 5/5 score would mean that the colour's very obvious even while indoors*
As you can see, these lenses offer no colour change because the rim and the pattern is black. It does make my irises even darker than usual, though.

How much do I like them? 3/5

With flash

Note the difference

These may be the darkest circle lenses I've ever owned. Even though I'm not quite used to how they look, my boyfriend thinks they're fine. I always use him as a measure for how natural my circle lenses look because he finds most of them scary -.-
However, for these, he didn't say anything bad so I take that as a good sign *thumbs up*

DBeautyShop ships worldwide and every order comes with a free animal lens case. These cases are absolutely adorable! I've started my own mini collection and it makes me so happy looking at them :)

To February jewellery review

ToFebruary.com is definitely one of the cutest websites I've stumbled across. It's a US-based online store that sells clothing, jewellery and other accessories. Their products are uber cute and remind me a lot of the stuff I see in Asia. Everything is beautifully presented and the website is very easy to navigate. For all the Korean drama enthusiasts, they've also got a special section dedicated to K-drama inspired accessories.

Disclosure: The following jewellery were sponsored by Tofebruary.com, but this review is written based on my honest opinions.

*Please note that the contact lens cases are my own and were used to give you a rough idea of the size of the items*

Princess Bracelet in Black
This bracelet is mad cute!! Just look at the little charms! I especially love the little hanger with a pearl and two diamante studs dangling from it. It's so girly and playful! I can definitely see myself wearing it a lot.

Wonderland Necklace
I've mentioned several times before that I really like the story Alice in Wonderland. So when I saw the name of this necklace, it piqued my interest. Turns out, it was a little umbrella with a mini toadstool and a white lightning bolt. So quirky, I had to have it!

Birds in Wonderland Necklace
Following the wonderland theme was this sort of forest-fairyland necklace. It looks like it was taken straight from a storybook. The little birdie dangles in the middle so whenever you move, it looks like it's (kinda) flying. The necklace is absolutely adorable!

Some of the items that I selected were out of stock, so To February replaced them with the following items.

Classic Love Letter Necklace
Awww...this has got to be one of the sweetest necklaces I've seen! A little letter reading 'I Love You' peeking out from an envelope, what's not to like?

Long Bow Necklace
This necklace is so pretty! I've always liked pearls (heavily influenced by Audrey Hepburn), but I find that pearl necklaces can sometimes make you look older than you are. However, this necklace is perfect as it looks cute with the bow and dangling pearls, yet gives off a hint of elegance. In fact, it's quite princess-y and reminds me of hime gyarus.

This necklace had a minor defect, though. It's hardly noticeable, but a little pearl is missing. It arrived that way and I can't seem to find the loose pearl anywhere *sad face* Still, it's only a small problem.

*Update: ToFebruary very kindly offered to send a replacement FOC after reading this post, but I didn't want to throw away the current one as it's only a minor defect, so I declined.*

That's not all, To February very kindly threw in a personalized cellphone strap for me! I wasn't expecting this at all and I was pleasantly surprised. It's really pretty and very bling-bling! I love it!!

My package took about a week to arrive (reasonable, considering I'm in the UK) and I was absolutely delighted when I saw how gorgeous everything was. All the items were pretty sturdy and quite well-made. Some were larger/heavier than expected, but I didn't mind at all as I love wearing long, eye-catching necklaces.


Check out their store at www.tofebruary.com.
You can also find them on Facebook.


For all you lucky people living in the United States, postage is only $1!!
However, for everyone else, fret not, as To February ships worldwide! For international orders, if you email them at contact(at)tofebruary(dot)com prior to making a purchase, they might even be able to offer you a shipping discount.


Happy Shopping!

A little shopping

Hi, guys!

I know I haven't updated for more than a week, so here's a quick one from my shopping trip today.
I didn't get any good pics of my outfit that day, but I've got some of the accessories I wore.

Deer ring (part of a set): H&M

Cameo ring: Primark

Rhinestone heart cocktail ring: ASOS.com

Love ring: ASOS.com

Please don't nag me about commercialism. I really like Starbucks. I even chose Starbucks as a topic for one of my marketing assignments. I don't drink coffee normally, but if I were to drink it, I would choose Starbucks and only Starbucks.

Here's what I bought today. Well, technically, I only bought the book (for 99p!) and the Cosmo mag (which I don't usually read). The novel is set in 1970s China and I really like reading books like that, so I hope this won't disappoint. I bought the mag just because I wanted to try the Eylure lashes.

You're probably curious to know what's in the Swarovski box. Well, that was a surprise gift from the boyf! *grins*

Swarovski recently teamed up with Sanrio: Hello Kitty and the result is an adorable collection of accessories. News of the collaboration came out in June even though the collection was only available worldwide beginning of August. There wasn't as much hype as I'd thought there'd be except for a couple of bloggers talking about it. I'm not sure about elsewhere, but the Swarovski branch here had the Pirates collection on display at the shop windows. The Hello Kitty collection was quite far in and I would have missed it if I wasn't on the lookout for it. I guess Kitty isn't that big here.

Here's a video of the House of Hello Kitty event by Swarovski.

I'm not usually a big fan of Kitty, but I thought the famous red bow earrings were uber cute. When I saw them in the shops, I totally fell in love! They were even cuter because they were smaller than I had imagined.

[Pic credit: Swarovski]

What surprised me was that the crystal droplets can actually be removed and the bows can be worn as studs. Perfecto!

I'm so, so happy to have a small piece of Hello Kitty Swarovski.

Did you get anything from this collection?

August Boudoir Privé: The Unboxing

Look what came in the post this morning!

It's the highly-anticipated Boudoir Privé beauty box! If you've no idea what it is, you can check out the Introductory post I wrote here*click*

The suspense was killing me, but I still took time to carefully unwrap each layer and photograph each step of my unboxing so I could document it nicely for you, my lovely blog readers.

The personalized, hand-written card really impressed me because I love companies who put in extra effort to make their customers feel loved.

The Les Indispensables leaflet was extremely useful because it detailed what each sample was, had instructions for use and listed the price of the full-sized product incase we decide to purchase it after trying out the samples.

After gently tugging the pretty pink ribbon and peeling off that cute little mirror sticker, the contents of the August Boudoir Privé beauty box were finally revealed.

There, 8 samples from 6 brands for £10.

So this is the first Boudoir Privé beauty box produced and for me personally, the first beauty box ever. My opinions will be based entirely on this company and their first box. My opinions may differ from others, but as I've no previous beauty box experience to compare to, I feel that I'm able to give an unbiased view.

When I opened the pink box, as far as first impressions go, I was well impressed because as you all know, I'm a sucker for packaging and I definitely can't fault them on that. At first glance, when I saw the amount of samples, I heaved a sigh of relief because before this, I was so worried I had wasted my money buying a box without knowing its contents because "its contents are a suprise". I admit that the full-sized SACHAJUAN Hair Repair product (which by the way, retails for £11) added tons of brownie points. I thought the box provided a lovely mix of products for body care, hair care, skin care, make up and lifestyle. Let's have a closer look at what the items are.

SACHAJUAN Hair Repair, OLAVIE Antioxidant Body Butter,
JANE IREDALE PureLash Extender and Conditioner, BABOR HSR Lifting Extra Firming Cream,
ETAT LIBRE D'ORANGE Like This and Rien, BLOOM Green tea and White tea duo.

I was most disappointed with the blooming BLOOM teabags. I remember there were hints on their Facebook page that the "lifestyle" product could be tea and I thought to myself, "They'd better not give me blardy tea!!"

So anyway, the box arrived and as you can see, the teabags were there. I would have been furious, but I'm not simply because I felt that the other products made up for it. But if they do this again in future boxes, I think I would be extremely annoyed. I'm sorry, I'm not paying for tea samples no matter how posh. Seriously, nobody is going to pay for tea samples.

I admit I was very sceptical when they revealed some of the brand names they were working with; I had not heard of most of them! Granted, I'm no beauty guru and I'm sure these brands are luxury (Boudoir Privé seem to love throwing this word around) brand names in their own right, but the fact remains that as an average consumer, I'm always hesitant about buying products I'm not familiar with. Still, now that the samples are here, I can't wait to try them out!

I'll end on a positive note in that after inspecting the products, I'm going to say I'm pretty satisfied with the box. I think the sample sizes are pretty decent and regardless of whether I know the brand names or not, I'm glad that I can use every single product in there. I hope the products won't disappoint. I think £10 for this is very reasonable.
All in all, I quite like the box!

Now, if you've read up to here (Thank you! You're the best!), I've got a mini surprise. Together with the leaflet, Boudoir Privé has attached 3 tokens with a code to get your first box for half price! If you want this code, simply drop me a comment to let me know. I don't know how many times you're allowed to use the code, but to avoid dispute, the first 3 people to ask me for it will get it. This is only for my UK readers because Boudoir Privé does not ship overseas.

I rather enjoyed doing this unboxing post. Hope you enjoyed reading it, too.

I'm really keen to know:
What do you think of this beauty box?
What other beauty boxes do you subscribe to?

Featured on Shasie's blog

Sorry updates have been a little slow lately. I'm getting progressively busier as the deadline for my dissertation draws closer.

On top of that, I'm sure most of you have heard about the recent UK riots. When I'm not working on my research, I'm monitoring the news, Twitter and Facebook for updates. The BBC channel was pretty much on throughout the day so I could keep an ear out on the news. It's a terribly sad thing that has happened and it upsets me to watch videos of victims telling their stories. It makes me so mad that people could do this!

I know how it feels to watch news like that on the telly and go, "How terrible!", but to actually be here and worry that your city will be hit next is an entirely different experience. When there's so much worry and rumour-mongering going on and you have worried relatives calling you to tell you to stock up on food and stay indoors, it does interrupt your daily routine, even though people have said that we should not have to live in fear. Well, to be honest, I was too angry to be afraid.

Thankfully, my city wasn't hit and we remain as one of the safest cities in the UK. Thank you to those who checked on me to make sure I was okay. I really appreciate that.

Let's move on to some happier news, shall we? :)

*abrupt change*


I've been featured on Shasie's blog at Live-live-in-style.com! If you're interested in finding out what I like best about fashion blogging, whether I would consider a full-time career in fashion, which city I would like to fly out to right now or if you simply just want to hear me ramble on and on, just click here*click* to go to the feature interview.

Actually, even if you don't really care about what I have to say *tsk* (only joking), you should still check out Shasie's blog because that woman has great fashion sense and she's the sweetest and friendliest fashion blogger I know.

Thank you, Shasie, for interviewing me! I really enjoyed doing the questions.

DBeautyShop Geo Jazz Coffee review

Today, I'll be reviewing the GEO Jazz Coffee circle lenses.
Disclosure: These lenses were sponsored by DBeautyShop , a Malaysian-based online store that sells circle lenses. DBeautyShop did not dictate what should or should not be in this review and thus this review is written based on my honest opinions.

The company ships worldwide. Packaging was adequate with secure bubble wrapping around the vials and everything was sent in a bubble envelope. They offer a free animal lens case with every pair of circle lenses purchased. I got pink fishies this time!

Item details
Origin: Korea
Diameter : 14.0mm
Water Content : 38%
Base Curve : 8.6mm
Life Span : 1 year disposal

With flash

Without flash

Note the subtle difference

Comfort: 3/5
These lenses are relatively comfortable and I forget that they are there after a couple of minutes. However, even though it says that the water content is 38% (like most of my other circle lenses), I can only wear it for 4-6 hours after which my eyes will start to feel really dry.

Enlargement: 3/5
As these are only 14.0mm in diameter, I didn't expect them to have much of an enlarging effect. This suits me just fine as I always prefer the natural look.
*I wear circle lenses in every single photo of me you've seen on this blog so you know I go for subtlety*

You may wonder why a higher rating isn't awarded as these lenses are clearly larger than my iris, but actually, there are circle lenses with even wider diameters like 15.0, 16.0 and 17.0mm. Those would definitely give you the dolly-eye effect and I think those deserve higher ratings for iris enlargement.
However, that is not to say that you should discount circle lenses with lower ratings for iris enlargement because for people like me, we're happy that the enlargement effect is subtle. I know I speak for a lot of ladies when I say that I wished the manufacturers would produce new 14.0mm designs for circle lenses. It seems that a lot of companies these days are competing to have the widest diameter without taking into account what the consumers really feel most comfortable with.

Colour: 1/5
*note that a 5/5 score would mean that the colour's very obvious even while indoors*
These lenses offer no colour change except maybe when I use flash photography. I still gave it a 1 because I like the light brown ring around the lenses because this makes the enlargement look really natural and blends into the eyes easily.

How much do I like them? 3/5

Time for vain selca pics

Without flash (indoors with curtains drawn)

Without flash (indoors with bright sunlight streaming in)

With flash

Thanks, DBeautyShop for sponsoring these lenses!

Kawaii.i Contest Obakawa-inspired style

Please vote for me!

Beautiful people, I need a favour from all of you. I participated in this Kawaii Fashion Coordinate Contest by Kawaii.i and I would really appreciate it if you could vote for me. If you've a minute, click on this link*click* and when the page opens, click the Vote Now button.

Please vote for me, I'll be eternally grateful. I promise I will return the favour if you ever need me to vote for something. On top of that, you'll receive tons of flying e-kisses and e-hugs from me haha

Thank youuuuuuu

Preppy spectacles: DIY-ed from 3D glasses

Cardigan: Primark

Polka-dotted vintage style dress: Asia Fashion Wholesale

Alexa-inspired satchel: Blogshop

Lace socks: eBay

Loafer platforms: ASOS.com

I'm sure you would like to know what you're voting for, so here is an entire post dedicated to my submitted style coordinate.

Today, I'm going to introduce to you a fashion trend called Ojikawa/Obakawa style. According to Cheesie at Cheeserland.com, Ojikawa and Obakawa literally translates to "Grandpa cute" and "Grandma cute". How cute, right?

[Pic credit: Cheeserland.com]

[Pic credit: Cheeserland.com]

The magazine scans above were from the January 2011 issue of Popsister, an extremely popular magazine in Japan (and Asia). It showcases some Ojikawa and Obakawa style inspirations and from what I gathered, there's a hint of old English and a bit of vintage touch in this trend. However, the Japanese have taken that and given it their famous cutesy or kawaii twist.

It is not strictly vintage fashion as we know it because trust me, there are a lot of vintage lovers in my Uni and I've noticed their fashion is not quite like the Ojikawa/Obakawa style. The trend is much more quirky and even when dressed like an old Grandpa, one should still manage to look cute.

Here are some of the key items needed for this trend:
Knit wear (preferably oversized)? Check
Pussy bow? Check
Retro bag/satchel? Check
Socks? Check
Loafer pumps/platforms? Check
Nerd specs? Check

Please vote for me!